Mikel Arteta Arsenal
What’s your assessment on that?
A really different feeling to the feeling that we all had last Sunday when we felt proud and we felt that we really did what we needed to win in certain moments. Today is completely the opposite. We have to apologise for to our people especially for the second half.
Do you accept the title race is over?
What I have to accept first is what happened in the second half and digest it. Look individually at what happened in the second half. After that until it’s mathematically over…
The second position is secure. That’s not going to change. We have to digest and that will take a few days
Do you think there was a foul on the first goal?
I don’t know. We’re not gonna change that. The first half was very competitive. We expected that. There were a lot of interruptions – I think there were 30 fouls in the game. We had no flow. We had a some big moments, especially when we won the ball high up the pitch, there are six situations where we should have done much better. When…propose a game like that you have to capitalise and we didn’t. In the second half we started to lose certain runners, we lost a lot of duels in our own line, conceded two really poor goals. We had no answer to that. That’s the reality. After the second goal we had no answer and I am responsible for that.
Do you think the City result left everyone feeling flat?
I don’t know. This cannot be the way to justify what happened in the second half because in the first half it didn’t happen. It was very interrupted and there was a lack of flow and there were a lot of duels because it was a man to man game. In the second half we lost certain things, we lost focus, we lost pairs and it became a really difficult game to play.
Is it unfair to say the team have run out of steam?
No, I think we have the highest running stats in the league. So I don’t think that’s the case. Today, I think individually we were below par – to be gentle.
What’s your overriding emotion right now? Pride or frustration?
At the moment it’s just frustration. The feeling that we gave the game away in the second half. We fought really hard to be in the position that we are in and today we were in a critical moment to keeping hoping and digging for that dream. When you have to play in these moments you cannot do what we did in the second half. Then we have to look. If a team is capable of doing that when it comes to the biggest stage, there’s a lot of things to analyse and think about because it cannot happen.
How’s Martinelli?
We don’t know. He’s in a boot at the moment. He was very uncomfortable, and he could not carry on playing. We need to scan him and see the extent of that injury.
Do you feel this season has given you more conviction and hope of what you want to do with this club going into next season?
In a sense yes. But with the level that is required for the Premier League and to fight for the Champions League, the way we have to fight for the Champions League, there’s a lot to think about.
Look like a young team – pushed to the limit. Can you accept that?
I don’t know. I’m responsible for what happened today. My job is to get the best out of every single individual that we have. And if we have to take it there (pretends to shoot himself) for ten and a half months, we have to and they have to. I have tried to do that with my best ability but today obviously I didn’t do it.
Sound like you are looking forward to how you will change the squad, maybe your thinking has changed?
My thinking is exactly the same. Obviously what the team has done over the last ten months is very different to what anybody expected and that generates a lot of expectation as well enthusiasm, happiness and joy. That’s something that has to be managed in the right way and after we have the responsibility to make sure the team performs and I am responsible for that. So I hate the feeling of letting people down when they are expecting something. That’s the biggest regret I have today and I have to apologise for that.
Why has the defensive record been so poor at home?
Many different factors. When you look at the goals we have conceded today, too simple.
